Category Archives: personal

I think I used that title before. I actually did a few Mohawk Valley things yesterday, but what I really want to talk about today is this morning’s run. For one thing, thinking about what I could say about it was a major motivating factor that kept me running.

It may have been wiser to wait till later in the day, when it may be warmer, to run, but sometimes you need to act on your motivation right away. I’m sure many people feel that way. My thermostat said 31 degrees and often reads a little warmer than the actual temperature, so I wore my insulated sweatshirt over my long-sleeved ARMY t-shirt. The sweatshirt has the added advantage of being way too big on me, so the sleeves handily go over my hands, which any runner will tell you can damn cold during the course of a run.

As I set out I was a little concerned to find icy patches on the sidewalk. I’ve fallen on the sidewalk before. I don’t care for it. I ran carefully, utilizing a shuffling kind of pace. My pace is low to the ground at all times (my sports bras need all the help they can get), so this was not burdensome. And it allowed me to sing a song to myself that my sister Diane taught me: Every day I’m shufflin’. She first brought up that song before Tommy (her son, my nephew) and I ran the DARE 5K. I advised Tommy to shuffle up the big hill. Diane said, “You can sing to yourself, ‘Every day I’m shufflin’.” Like I say, all the help I can get.

Parts of the sidewalk were quite bare, which was nice. The roads, not so much, so I did not sprint across any roads as I like to do. I ran up the hill by Valley Health Services. This is not a major hill, like the one included in the DARE run. Well, I just barely started running again; I can only do so much jumping right in. I ran a hill Saturday, too, which was comparable, so I’ll be upgrading on the hills soon. When I ran down the other side of the block, the sun had been on that sidewalk, clearing it completely. Phew! My feet had already slipped a couple of times. Just the trailing foot sliding out from under me a little quicker than expected. I think the shuffling pace saved me. I was glad to have bare sidewalks on the downhill, where gravity can be my friend or my enemy.

I ran by the high school, which I like to do on a Sunday. Lots of discarded gum on the blacktop. Yuck, but at least it wasn’t fresh enough to stick to my shoes. I crossed a little bridge over a stream. At least, it may be a stream, it may be a drainage ditch. I like to say stream. The bridge used to be more picturesque, but they replaced it with a sturdy structure with a chain link fence rising over the railing. To keep students from jumping off? Throwing things off? Throwing other students off? Pondering the question helped pass the time. Soon I was in a sort of street slash parking lot, where I often find coins. Left as encouragement by the angels or dropped by careless people getting in and out of cars? I pick angels, but I did not find anything today. I found a penny on Wednesday’s run and two on Friday’s run, so I could put my two cents in (I make that joke whenever possible).

Running becomes a little problematic these days, because I don’t have a sense yet of how long it takes me to get from point A to point B. Since I run for a certain length of time, not a certain distance, this is a consideration. Soon I was on my street on the opposite side as my house, looking at my watch and calculating. I would need to run by my house for how long in order to turn around and make it back in the length of time I wanted? It didn’t help that I could see potential ice on that sidewalk. I could not count on a last minute sprint. Well, I’m not up for sprints yet, anyways. I shan’t tell you my target time, though, in case you think it’s too short. I can picture a reader saying, “That’s no run! What are you even bothering me about that for?”

Tabby graciously walked my cool down with me as usual. And by “graciously” I mean she jumped and barked and would barely sit still long enough for me to get the leash on her. I was glad I had not run the sidewalks we walked on, because we encountered some major ice. No accidents, though. It was a good run. And it looks as if I’ve blogged about it for a good long time. Well, I’ll make a shorter post tomorrow. Stay tuned.

The great thing about running again is that I can always blog about my latest run. So far that’s the only good thing about it.

Just kidding. Even the most difficult run can offer its moments of satisfaction. I ran Saturday, Sunday and Monday. I took Tuesday off to cook a semi-elaborate main dish for my husband’s and my Valentine dinner (hmmm… that could be another blog post). When I take a day off, I almost always regret it the next day when it seems I want nothing more than to take that day off. But I thought it important to fix my husband a nice dinner for once. And I took my dog, Tabby, for a long walk, which is definitely important.

Still, I was tired on Wednesday. I would just like to state for the record: I am grateful for my job and I am grateful for all the overtime I’ve been getting. Doesn’t make me any less tired. On the other hand, I had eaten two cupcakes at work (a lady brought some in made by her daughter, a professional baker; don’t judge me), I wanted a blog post, and, well, the Boilermaker isn’t getting any further away (or shorter, for that matter). So off I went.

It was warmer than it had been Monday but still not warm. I was wearing a hat but not a sweatshirt. I pulled the sleeves of my long-sleeved t-shirt over my hands.

I saw the underwear I had seen on Saturday. They had moved across the street and onto the sidewalk. A stick was beside them. I pictured some kid picking the underwear up with the stick and waving them around (“Have some underwear!” “Ew! Gross!”).

I followed practically the same route I had run on Saturday, to see if it was any easier. I didn’t see a whole lot of difference, but at some point I realized I did not feel tired. Bonus! After a while I felt a difference in that some leg muscles started to hurt. I suppose that means they were working. I made a mental note not to neglect to stretch after my run.

As I ran, I reflected on the cupcakes I had eaten at work. I did not regret them, but wondered how far I really had to run to burn them off. I decided it was probably better not to look too closely into these things. Then it occurred to me, if I start running an hour or more a day to train for the Boilermaker, I can eat whatever the hell I want. You nutrition experts out there, just keep quiet. I know it’s not really true, but the words “eat whatever the hell I want” kept me going.

My not feeling tired did not stay with me for very long after the run, but I enjoyed it while it lasted. I slept very well, so we’ll give the exercise credit for that. I felt fairly energized Thursday morning. I’ll blame that on the run too. So I’m motivated to run another day. Stay tuned.